Medina adopts fee schedule for food trucks
File photo by Tom Rivers: JJ Heideman of BAD-AsH-BBQ served up pulled pork and other food during the Orleans County Heritage Festival on Sept. 8 at Forrestel Farm in Shelby. The Village of Medina will charge food truck operators $25 a day if they do not have a physical location within the village.
MEDINA – The Village Board wants to welcome food truck operators for village events, but the board doesn’t want the operators to just cash in at the expense of food businesses with brick and mortar locations.
“We don’t want to take business away from the taxpaying businesses in Medina,” Mayor Mike Sidari said at Monday’s Village Board meeting.
The board, however, didn’t want to impose unreasonable fees that would keep the food trucks away.
“We want the food trucks because they are fun and draw people to the community,” said Marguerite Sherman, a village trustee.
The board decided to charge food truck operators $25 a day with a maximum presence of six days a month.
Businesses with brick-and-mortar locations within the village will be exempt from the fee. Not-for-profit organizations also will likely be exempt but they need to submit a request that will be reviewed by the Village Board.
In other action:
• The board agreed to set aside two docks at the Canal Basin for Pedal and Paddle Medina, which rents Hydrobikes and kayaks. The business, owned by Victor and Heather DiGiacomo of Middleport, opened last July in Medina. They will be charged $100 a month for each dock section, or $200 a month. The village also will designate one spot in the parking lot for the Pedal and Paddle, which carries some of the equipment on a trailer.
The business, the only of its kind along the canal in Orleans County, has been a welcome addition, said Owen Toale, a village trustee.
• The board agreed to provide barrels, barricades and a stage for the Lions Club’s community yard sale on June 2, but declined to provide portable bathrooms, saying it didn’t want to establish a precedent where the village provides bathrooms for community events.
• Approved use of part of Butts Park for LOYAL’s youth football and cheerleading program from Tuesday through Friday evenings from late July to early November.
• Agreed to close a section of West Avenue from Park Avenue to the property line by the Railroad Museum and Lee-Whedon Memorial Library. That part of the street will be closed to traffic for the annual “A Day Out with Thomas” when Thomas the Tank Engine is at the museum on May 19-20, and May 26-27.
